Month: October 2006

“What Tennesseans will get is a Jesus-loving, gun-supporting believer
that family should come first, that taxes should be lowered, and that
America should be strong. When Tennesseans send us to the Senate,
that’s what they’ll get in my votes, and that’s what they’ll get in
the kind of leadership that we have not had in the Senate over the
last six years.”

Yep, that’s Democratic (theoretically) Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. on Fox News Sunday. Afterwards, we hear tell he went a’swimmin’ with Ellie Mae and Jethro in the cement pond.

In a debate between the two local party chairmen last week at the East Memphis Rotary Club, there were differences of opinion on a variety of issues, but solid concurrence on one fact – that the candidacy of independent candidate Jake Ford in the 9th District congressional race is a diversion from the real choice.

In one sense that joint conclusion is unsurprising, since Democratic chairman Matt Kuhn would be expected to support his party’s nominee, state Senator Steve Cohen. Likewise with GOP chairman Bill Giannini and the Republican nominee, businessman Mark White.

Both chairmen made the case against Ford on what they put forth as the merits of the case, however. Giannini began his remarks with a quip: “Hey, there is nobody more excited about the candidacy of Jake Ford than me. Thanks to Jake Ford, we might actually have a shot in that race.”

But, after suggesting that Republican White was polling well in the African-American community, Giannini veered off in an unexpected direction: “Steve Cohen is a terrific public servant. He is a dynamite public servant. You could not ask anybody to go to Nashville or to Washington and do your business, more dedicated than Steve Cohen.”

He went on, however: “I’ll qualify that by saying that if you think we should support gay marriage, we should allow gambling, and we should not let our children pray in schools, Steve Cohen is your man. Go in there and pull that lever proudly for him. There are only two qualified candidates in this race, though – Mark White, our candidate, and Steve Cohen. You have to decide who best represents your ideals when you vote on November 7th.”

Democratic chairman Kuhn responded this way: “In all seriousness, this is a very poignant moment in our community. When you look at whether a white, Jewish state senator can represent a Christian district in Memphis, Tennessee, it’s going to be a wonderful turning point. I say ‘going to be’ because I do believe that through the course of this campaign you have seen that the person that is talking about issues, the person that’s talking about what he wants to do in Washington is going to be the winner. That’s going to be Steve Cohen.

“This other campaign of Jake Ford, to me, honestly, hasn’t materialized. It hasn’t materialized in any type of substantive way that lets people know why you should vote for this guy, other than he can supposedly represent you better in South Memphis, and there has not been any substantive campaign statement, there has been no position paper. Through the debates it has been fairly obvious and evident in many cases what the decision is. And I believe we are truly past the point in this community where people only vote their color. We will see that in statewide ranks, and we will see that in our own community, and I believe that dignity and progress is going to carry the day.”

Other issues the two chairmen agreed on, more or less, included term limits (they both favored); capital punishment (each thought there had been too much judicial interference); and the issue of pre-emptive strikes by the United States (both agreed that such decision were dictated by the particular situation).

Points of disagreement included state Amendment One, declaring marriage to be exclusively heterosexual (Kuhn called the issue a distraction and noted that his party had resolved not to support it, while Giannini offered “one hundred percent” support of the amendment); Iraq (Giannini favored staying the course; Kuhn suggested the U.S. should find a way out); and abortion (Kuhn was pro-choice, Giannini pro-life).

Asked about the recent “airport ambush” incident involving senatorial candidates Harold Ford Jr. and Bob Corker, Kuhn said that Democrat Ford had demonstrated “boldness” and “leadership quality” by showing up at the site of a Corker press conference, while Giannini said the affair demonstrated that, whatever the impression at large was about Ford, he was “not a nice guy.” Giannini said further that Memphis and Shelby County had not moved forward in districts where the Ford family held political power.

— Jackson Baker

Two names that have counted for something in Democratic Party politics were put at the disposal of 7th District congressional candidate Bill Morrison Friday.

State Senator Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville, who achieved a significant local following during her brief run for the U.S. Senate, was the guest of honor at a fundraiser for Morrison at the Cordova home of Brian and Nancy Kuhn.

And while there, Morrison, an army veteran who is now a middle-school teacher in Bartlett, unveiled a letter of endorsement from retired General Wesley Clark, who ran for president in 2004 and may do so again in 2008.

“We were in the Army together,” deadpanned Moirrison of the former NATO commander. Morrison is challenging Republican incumbent Marsha Blackburn of Franklin.

Clark’s letter reads as follows:

“America needs new leadership in Congress. Today American families face many difficult challenges at home and abroad. There has never been a time when foreign affairs were as closely linked to the daily lives of Tennesseans as they are now. We are fighting the causes of terrorism that threaten our homes and we must prepare for a changing global economy that demands America train its people to compete in the world marketplace for the best jobs. That is exactly why we need Bill Morrison in Congress to fight for us in Washington, DC and I am pleased to endorse him today.

“An Army veteran, and history teacher, nominated as Disney Teacher of the year in 2005, Bill is the ideal person to help put this country back on the right track. He understands what it means to serve his country, is fully committed to full funding for the VA so no veterans are denied health care. Bill Morrison will help ensure that our military receives the best equipment and training available. I believe that as a Congressman, Bill will bring fresh ideas to creating affordable healthcare for all our citizens, focus on the meeting the needs of the middle class and promote education.”

An Urban Myth, Rural Style

by “Kibitzer”

(from The Flypaper Theory.)

Honestly, I hadn’t wanted to get into this one (other than by comments appended here and there on other blogs), but this campaign against “racist” ads on the part of the Corker campaign was ridiculous from the start and is getting more so.

Want something to criticize? Then go after these dumb-ass attacks upon Harold for being a “liberal.” Yep, the same approach that knocked 10 to 15 points off Corker’s polling when it dominated his ads in September. It’s baaaaack! (And in the wake of Ford’s abject condemnation of the New Jersey court ruling yet!) You know why those ads didn’t work for Corker, btw? Because every damn body knew Ford weren’t no liberal! Tennesseans may be crazy; they ain’t stupid.

In any case, I am moved to object to the cacophony of condescension that has descended on us Tennesseans from the likes of Chris Matthews and that Barnicle character (a plagiarist of the Jayson Blair school) who tell us that we are provably bigots now if we don’t respond to the RNC’s “Playboy” ad by rushing to the polls to cast a protest vote (i.e., a vote for Ford). And a lesser tsunami had gotten started on this or that blog in relation to “jungle drums” (aka “tom-toms”) under the mention of Ford in one of Corker’s radio comparison ads.

Sigh! As the reinvigorated Mike Hollihan has pointed out on his blog, the same, the very same “tom toms” play under an image of Corker in a commercial presenting the candidate’s health-care proposals. (Or, frankly, lack of health-care proposals. But that’s another issue.)

As for the allegedly “racist” Playboy ad: Lookit, if that bimbo had been black, THAT would have been racist! It would have been saying, Stick to your own kind, black boy! Everybody knows that Harold Ford Jr. is an equal-opportunity dater. Give him his due! He dates as many white women as black women, if not more. And here’s something else!: Nobody cares who he dates! This is the guy with the “white” grandmother, remember?

As for that residual lynching fever that purportedly (the purporters being all those self-satisfied media scolds) lingers in the boondocks of our primitive hinterland, needing only the sight of a slinky white woman winking at a light-skinned black man to be awakened — give me a break!

No less an authority than our mayor, Willie Herenton, mused last week that candidate Ford has received a total pass on the race issue. Concerning Childe Harold’s reception in rural Tennessee, Herenton opined, no doubt correctly: “Ford’s light enough that he can go in there and be accepted by those folks. I’m realistic enough to know that I wouldn’t have a chance. I’m just too dark.”

The fact is, the “racism” in the Playboy ad was altogether in the eye of the beholder. Instead of trashing those hard-working Tennessee country folk whose retrograde ways are largely manifested by a shortage of Starbucks franchises in their neighborhoods, heal thyselves, physicians! Look in your own subconscious minds. That‘s where the connection between that sassy party gal and some lurid “racial” scenario came from. Otherwise, you would have seen what you were meant to see — a suggestion that Harold Ford, bachelor and man-about-town par excellence, had too much of a yen for the fancy life. That’s all.

Straighten up, dudes. I know that most of you are still trying to puzzle out whether to hold your noses and vote for Ford or to take a walk on the race. A few of you (I’m not supposed to reveal this) are actually going to vote for Corker. Oh, and yes, there’s Chris Lugo.

Do what you will, but do it for honest reasons. Don’t yield to some goofy judgmental hysteria that has taken the reddest of red herrings and tried to make a red-state Leviathan out of it.

Pssst! Here’s the ‘Playboy’ attack ad. Judge for yourself!